The men’s swimming and diving team finished seventh with 589.5 points at the Ivy League Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, held at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center. Princeton won the three-day competition with a score of 1,514, edging out second-place Harvard’s 1,446.
Tommy Glenn ’14 helped Bruno shatter multiple school and personal records over the weekend. Glenn broke his own school records in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 200 butterfly, capturing first place in the Ivy League in both events.
Glenn’s time of 45.80 seconds in the 100 butterfly is the third-fastest swim in the nation this year. His time makes the NCAA “A” cut, which automatically qualifies him for the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships that will be held in Indianapolis later this month. Glenn qualified for nationals last year, but said he feels like “more of a player” this year.
“Last year I went, and it was a completely new experience,” Glenn said. “I remember being taken completely off guard by the intensity of the atmosphere, and now I’m ready to try and play my part in that.”
Glenn was part of another school record in the 200 freestyle relay, in which he partnered with Jeffrey Strausser ’15, Alex Pascal ’15 and Oliver Diamond ’14 to finish the race in one minute, 20.81 seconds, six-hundredths of a second faster than the old record.
The Bears’ time of 1:29.81 in the 200 medley relay also broke a school record. Bruno was represented in the event by co-captain Mike McVicker ’13, Strausser, Pascal and Diamond.
“It’s been a long season,” McVicker said. “Everyone did a really great job with their hard work, and it paid off in the end.”
Yet another school record was broken in the 500 freestyle, with Cory Mayfield ’16 posting a time of 4:24.49, earning him sixth place in the Ivy League for the year. Mayfield’s time broke a 13-year-old school record by more than a second.
“Breaking the record last night was a really great feeling,” Mayfield said. “I just missed it in the morning prelims, so I wanted to come in at night, have a big swim to break the record and score some points for the team.”
Mayfield also competed in the 1,000 freestyle, finishing 14th with the third-fastest time in Brown’s history at 9:15.06, and in the 1,650 freestyle, earning 12th in the Ivy League with a time of 15:28.92.
The Bears also put up an impressive fifth-place performance in the 800 freestyle relay, with Brian Barr ’15, Ryan Saenger ’16, Glenn and Mayfield stopping the clock at 6:38.02, two-tenths of a second away from a school record.
Many other Brown swimmers broke personal and season records during the weekend’s events. McVicker’s time of 55.60 in the 100 breaststroke was a season high, as was Pascal’s consolation final-winning time of 49.17 in the 100 backstroke. In the 50 freestyle, all eight of Bruno’s competing swimmers set season high times, capped by Strausser’s eighth-place time of 20.43.
The meet presented an opportunity for the Bears to show off their home pool this weekend.
“It was amazing to have the meet at home, especially for the upperclassmen who came to Brown when we didn’t have a competition pool,” said Assistant Coach Kristy Fuzellier.
For most of Bruno’s squad, the Ivy Championships were the last event of the season. But Brown’s swimmers are enthusiastic about next season’s forecast, Mayfield said.
“I think our incoming class of freshmen will give us a huge boost of energy,” Mayfield said. “With so many people on our Ivy roster returning for next year, I don’t think it will be hard for our team to improve over the next few years.”
For Bruno’s outgoing seniors, the meet was a satisfying capstone to four years of work, McVicker said.
“I just really appreciate the coaches,” McVicker said. “Without their positive attitude, I probably wouldn’t have even stayed on the swim team.”
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